Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

With regard to responsibility, the Department of Foreign Affairs has primary responsibility for the State's international boundaries and this includes the seabed. The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has responsibility for supervising and licensing many activities. Ireland will be the first state in the world to make a successful claim in this regard. The commission's recommendation will allow Ireland establish an outer limit approximately 150 km beyond the current 200 nautical mile limit. The question of supervision, obviously, would arise in regard to the issue of fisheries. This has no effect on the fisheries as our territorial waters extend to the level of 200 nautical miles. This relates to outside that limit, so the reality is that this has no impact on fisheries.

It does have an impact on the issue of possible exploration. To a large extent, supervision of it would not arise because the only issue is in regard to hydrocarbon exploration. This has no effect on the position of Rockall. The situation at Rockall was agreed 27 years ago in 1980 under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which provides that rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life on their own shall have no exclusive economic zone. From that point of view, the British accepted the point made by us in these negotiations. The UK withdrew its claim to a 200 nautical mile exclusive fisheries zone measured from Rockall when it acceded to the convention in 1997. As I said earlier in regard to the joint claim by Ireland and the UK, discussions are ongoing with Iceland and Denmark who are making the case on behalf of the Faroe Islands.

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